episode_0023

In the guild, adventurers’ badges are officially divided into three grades.

Gold, Silver, Bronze.

However, there is an unofficial grade called Novice that sneaks in, so the guild operates with a total of four grades.

Adventurer guilds existed in almost every city of a certain size on the continent.

And the adventurer grade received in one city is equally recognized in other adventurer guilds on the continent.

However, since many guilds did not implement the Novice grade depending on the city, it was meaningless in other cities.

In reality, to travel and wander through several cities as an adventurer, one must at least receive the Bronze grade.

“Yes, I have received your documents. Starting today, you will officially be active as a Bronze grade.”

“What about the Novice badge?”

“Please return it here.”

Today, I received confirmation of my promotion to Bronze from Tina, who was diligently working as a receptionist.

At first, she used to greet me first and all, but now she was completely businesslike.

Am I just imagining that the dark circles under her eyes are getting darker?

Working as a guild receptionist seems to be more challenging than I thought.

Meanwhile, chaos was unfolding at the adjacent counter.

“Yahhh! Didn’t you say it was a request to bring Thunderhawk’s egg?!”

“S-sigh- Is this the Thunderhawk’s egg…?”

“Are you underestimating me! Does this look like a Thunderhawk’s egg?! It’s clearly a reptile egg!”

Meruru, who was in charge of the inter-species reception counter, was arguing with a lizardman.

On the counter lay a long, white egg with sticky mucus on a nest made of straw.

“S-sigh- I really went to the Thunderhawk’s nest and brought it myself-”

“You shouldn’t underestimate Meruru! This egg is a genuine reptile egg! What if you laid it yourself?!”

As Meruru shouted, the scales covering the lizardman’s face turned red.

Oh god, what am I witnessing.

“The request is canceled! You also have to pay a penalty!”

Meruru swept the egg(?) off the counter and threw it away.

The lizardman picked it up with a dejected expression and bowed deeply before leaving the counter.

“Um… Is it normal for the inter-species counter to be like this?”

Unable to contain my curiosity about the clearly different atmosphere at Meruru’s counter, I asked Tina.

“Sometimes among the inter-species adventurers who visit, there are those like that lizardman who try to deceive and claim rewards.”

“Is it okay to treat customers like that?”

“Even though it may seem like that, Meruru is quite popular. Sometimes people even come with fake ears to work at that counter.”

I looked in amazement at Meruru, who was still brimming with confidence.

As long as adventurers prefer it, it seems like there’s no problem with being so bold.

After all, I successfully became a Bronze grade adventurer.

Now, I can proudly call myself an adventurer in other cities as well.

No longer will I have to do menial tasks that only Novice grade adventurers can do.

As a Bronze adventurer, there was something I wanted to try.

I stood among other adventurers with a serious expression, looking at the quest board, wondering what quest to take today.

[King Blue Slime Forest Resurfacing! / Bronze / 5 gold]

[Exterminate the Ratman group in the sewers below the pier. / Silver / 15 gold]

[Looking for Albino Goblins. Alive capture required. / Silver / 30 gold]

Mushrooms appeared in large numbers in the mushroom farm. / Bronze / 5 gold

Various requests were haphazardly posted on the bulletin board.

The board was completely tattered from how many requests were put up and taken down.

The basic reward was at least 5 gold.

It was definitely a lucrative job compared to cleaning or manual labor.

Even as a Bronze adventurer, one could live quite comfortably by diligently completing requests.

“Alright, the day-to-day survival lifestyle ends today.”

I began to pick out the requests that I could handle from the bulletin board.

* * *

The seven dioceses select a saint through a regular meeting, and the saint finds a person with the qualities of a hero through a prophecy.

After the saint, Sistina, from the Freya diocese ran away from the church, a new saint was finally chosen.

This time, the saint came from the Castia diocese, which was the most influential among the seven dioceses.

The Freya diocese, which failed to properly supervise the saint, was forcibly excluded from this saint selection.

“Castia diocese…”

At the place where the new saint was chosen, Bishop Javiel, who was excluded from the saint selection, also attended.

He watched the process of selecting the saint from a distance with an uncomfortable expression.

“Selena of the Castia diocese. She is the new saint who will find the hero.”

“Quickly spread this joyful news to each church.”

“I hope we can find the hero this time.”

Three days later.

The new saint, Selena, was summoned to the central church to officially receive the role of the saint.

She was a small, frail-looking saint with neat brown hair.

With the bishops watching, she nervously looked around, seemingly not yet realizing the situation.

Selena bowed her head, and the bishops of the seven dioceses consecrated her by pouring the holy water from the chalice onto her head.

With this, she was recognized as the new saint.

However, shortly after.

With her head and clothes soaked in holy water, Saint Selena raised her head again and spoke.

“To the bishops gathered here, I have an important announcement to make.”

“Please speak.”

A strange tension spread among the bishops at the new saint’s request for speech.

The anxious expression on Selena’s face disappeared as if washed away by the previous nervousness.

She closed her eyes for a moment, took a deep breath, and spoke to the bishops.

“I have found the hero.”

* * *

“I’ll have everything on the menu here.”

Kubel’s specialized high-end restaurant for meat dishes.

As soon as I looked at the menu, I told the waiter.

“Wow! Are you sure about that? That’s a lot!”

Meruru, with her fox-like ears perked up, seemed to jump out of her chair in surprise.

It had been a week since I became a Bronze adventurer, and I decided to treat Tina and Meruru to a meal to coincide with their off-duty hours.

“I’m excited to try something new too.”

Tina smiled happily and said.

Being an adventurer was truly a profitable profession.

Thanks to completing two to three requests every day without a break for a week, my pockets were filled with more money than ever before.

There were many easy and quick tasks to solve at the Bronze level, which made it even better.

I had gotten used to living day by day, earning and eating, so it was a whole new world for me.

If it weren’t for Tina, I might still be wandering the streets.

If it weren’t for Meruru, I would have starved to death after running out of money in Kubel.

“I wanted to repay the favor first to the two of you who helped me when I was in need.”

Without Tina, I might still be wandering the streets.

Without Meruru, I might have starved to death in Kubel after running out of money.

Both of them were benefactors to me.

Even though he’s not here, if Oren were alive, I would have wanted to buy him a meal too.

“By the way, I was quite surprised. When I first joined the guild, Tina was working as a receptionist.”

I casually mentioned to Tina while waiting for the food.

Suddenly, a shadow appeared on Tina’s face, who had been smiling at the thought of food until now.

“Haha… There was no other place for me to work.”

She said while lightly touching the dark circles under her eyes.

It seems like the much darker circles under her eyes are bothering her more than when I first saw her.

“It must be tough. Working as a receptionist…”

“Dealing with difficult customers is one thing, but there’s just too much paperwork. These days, my eyes are always tired…”

“Haha…”

It’s probably best not to bring up work-related topics anymore.

While waiting for the food this time, I asked Meruru, who couldn’t keep her ears still.

“How are you doing, Meruru? Are you doing well?”

“I’m doing well! But I still haven’t found my sister…”

“Still no clues? Have you tried looking?”

“Whenever there’s talk about the water tribe, Tina always lets me know…”

As soon as the topic of her sister came up, Meruru’s ears drooped and folded.

No, why is the atmosphere like this?

Why does every conversation end up vaguely melancholic?

In the end, I stopped the small talk and quietly waited for the food to arrive.

At the table next to us, a group of adventurers was ordering food and chatting among themselves.

“Did you hear about it? A new saint has been chosen.”

“It seems like this new saint has remarkable divine power.”

The conversation topic was so intriguing that I found myself unconsciously listening in.

Even Tina, who was a former saint, seemed to be concerned, with a slight furrow between her eyebrows and no movement.

“Why? Is there something else?”

“She immediately appointed a hero as soon as she became a saint.”

“What? Really? Is that even possible?”

“It must be possible if they did it.”

Tina let out a small gasp, clearly surprised.

“Your food is ready.”

At that moment, the food I had ordered was brought out on a large cart.

A hero and a saint… It’s none of my business.

And it’s probably the same for Tina.

Let’s just eat.